This invention relates to techniques for feeding seed cotton bales or modules to cotton ginning apparatus. More particularly, this invention relates to techniques for feeding modules which have become contaminated with water prior to processing.
Cotton harvesting and processing have progressed from labor-intensive operations to highly mechanized operations which generally include the steps of harvesting, compressing the harvested bolls into bales or modules, and feeding the modules through pronged feed rollers so that the fibers are dislodged from the module and may be conveyed by a conveyor belt to the gin equipment.
It is not uncommon for the modules to be stored outdoors on slabs or on the ground in the fields prior to transportation to the feeders. As a result of such storage, it is also not uncommon for modules to be contaminated with water along a bottom layer or stratum and that layer may extend into the module for up to about 12 inches.
Modules being fed into feeders must be closely inspected to determine whether or not the module is contaminated. If modules are seriously contaminated, those modules would be diverted to an area adjacent the cotton gin, where workmen using pitchforks will break away the contaminated cotton from the module to leave the contaminated cotton in its compressed condition. The seed cotton thus removed from the module is picked up by a telescoping vacuum tube and is fed to the cotton gin. The contaminated remnants of each module must then be removed by front end loaders or the like. If contaminated modules are accidentally or deliberately delivered to the feeder, the ginned cotton will be of inferior quality.